News

New polar neutrino detector on the way

Friday, February 27, 2015

IceCube, the cubic kilometer, sub-polar detector that in 2013 gathered the first-ever evidence of cosmic neutrinos, is the star of particle astrophysics at the South Pole. Soon, however, a complementary detector known as the Askaryan Radio Array or ARA will join the hunt for the highest energy neutrinos.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison employs over 2,000 teaching assistants across a wide variety of disciplines. The contributions of TAs in the classroom, lab, studio and field are essential to the University’s education mission. In order to recognize excellence on the part of TAs across campus, each year the College of Letters & Science, with funding support from the Graduate School, administers awards for exceptional teaching.

The Department of Physics welcomed in the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18, for its fifth annual Physics Fair.

3-D printed trumpet by Garage Physics student Daniel Montez

Friday, February 13, 2015

Undergraduate student Daniel Montez uses the 3-D printer in Garage Physics for rapid prototyping of a trumpet. He wanted to see if it was possible to produce a brass instrument with similar sound aspects, while being inexpensive to make and be able to survive being dropped, making it ideal for younger music students first trying out the instrument. Each piece was 3D printed separately using PLA plastic, and they fit together to create the instrument.

The purpose of this project is to build an interactive display to promote community learning. A sculpture will be developed to facilitate interactive learning about the brain and the neural pathways involved in every-day tasks. The goal is to develop a presentation to benefit people of all ages in the community and communicate the exciting research being done in the field of neuroscience. The team will be working closely with the WID and Town Center in order to participate in Outreach events as well as other events held in the Madison community.

Prof. Camerini, 89 years old, died peacefully at home on November 21, 2014. Prof. Camerini was mentor to more than 20 graduate students during his 42 year career at Wisconsin. For his innovation in the development of Physics 109 - Physics in the Arts - he was given a University Teaching Award in 1984. After his retirement in the Fall of 1999, Ugo focused his energies on the Physics Museum, developing new exhibits. Ugo was a very lively person who shall aways be remembered for his colorful use of language, his candor, and his wit.

Francis Halzen named a winner of the 2014 American Ingenuity Award

Friday, October 17, 2014

Halzen is being honored for his decades-long effort to build a massive, cubic kilometer telescope under the Antarctic ice to detect cosmic neutrinos. Last year, the telescope yielded the first evidence of cosmic neutrinos, nearly massless high-energy particles thought to come from cosmic sources such as supernovae, black holes and the violent cores of galaxies. The work opened a new field of astronomy.

With a simple app addition, Android phones, and likely other smartphone brands in the not-too-distant future, can be turned into detectors to capture the light particles created when cosmic rays crash into Earth’s atmosphere.